Devastating Satire Aimed at Exxon and Big Oil

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This satire on Exxon’s nasty oil spill in Arkansas was aired on the Rachel Maddow Show last night. It imagines a world where oil is conveniently brought right to your door, by letting it burble right up through your lawn. Sad to think this is what’s happened over the past two weeks in Mayflower, AR, as chronicled in stories like this NY Times article by reporter Michael Schwirtz. It must be noted that the material from this spill is a form of tar sands oil, similar to what’s being mined and extracted in Alberta, Canada, and possibly being brought in to the US if the Keystone Excel pipeline is given a green light. This dark devastating spoof, under a minute long, was produced by Heavy Crude Video with Andy Cobb appearing as the unhinged narrator. Watch it and weep.

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Psychedelic Bands Blowing Minds & Rockin’ Out at Brooklyn’s Bell House

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Rishi DhirI had fun Wednesday night at a live rock show with three self-described psychedelic bands, one of whose music, Montreal’s Elephant Stone, I already knew well and whom I had written about last year. The other two groups–Allah-las from Los Angeles, and The Black Angels from Austin–also on the bill, were new to me. I was probably the only fan in the house who was more familiar with Elephant Stone than the others. Still, I was glad to see many in the crowd had arrived early enough to hear the opening act. Beforehand, I chatted with a couple who didn’t know anything about Elephant Stone, and said to them that they sound like “the Byrds with an Indian influence.” For his part, frontman Rishi Dhir has playfully dubbed their sound ‘Hindi rock.’ The quartet’s mind-blowing sound collage is driven by bright and jangly twelve-string guitar, sitar, and thumping bass, the latter two instruments played by Dhir (pictured at the left). They’ve recently released a new self-titled album (shown at right), released by Hidden Pony Records, a label that also features the great band, Rah Rah, another favorite act of mine. Elephant Stone lp

I’m pasting in a video below of Elephant Stone playing the Osheaga festival live in 2011. Some of their personnel have changed since then, but this video is still a good indication of what they’re like to hear live. The sitar kicks in at around 4:30 of the seven-minute clip.

I enjoyed hearing Allah-Las and The Black Angels for the first time, but the real highlight of the night for me was listening to Elephant Stone once again. Dhir bantered from the stage about how pleased he was that local radio station WFMU is playing songs from their new album, so I’m hopeful that over the past week–when Elephant Stone played a total of three live dates at NYC venues–they will have gained a much larger audience for their dynamic sound.

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Rockin’ Out with Hey Ocean! and We Are the City at Webster Hall

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Ashleigh and drummerHad a fun time Monday night at the Studio at Webster Hall, where Vancouver bands We Are the City and Hey Ocean! stopped off on their current US tour. I had not seen either group before, though I enjoy hearing them on CBC Radio 3, so it was a real treat to hear both groups live.

We Are the City are a trio led by gorgeously expressionistic vocals from keyboard player Cayne McKenzie, complemented by guitarist David Menzel and drummer Andrew Huculiak. They play an anthemic sort of big-sound pop, with Cayne’s great vocals. They played “Happy New Year,” a favorite of mine from their 2011 EP “High School.” You can hear it and more of their music at their band page on CBC Radio 3. Their first full album will be released this coming June.

By contrast, last night’s headliner, Hey Ocean! have been around longer, with three albums to their credit. At their core, they are also a trio, which they supplement with additional musicians. The central threesome is bassist and producer David Vertesi, guitarist David Beckingham, and spectacular lead singer, and flutist, Ashleigh Ball. She has a great pop/rock n’ roll voice, full of character, inflection and power. She’s also cute and lots of fun on stage, bouncing around like a bundle of positive energy, which is also reflected in the striving message of their lyrics. Hey Ocean! just released their later album, “Is,” which I picked up at the merch table last night. For info on the rest of the US tour of We Are the City and Hey Ocean! visit this page at the latter’s website. Upcoming cities are Akron, OH; Lansing, MI; Chicago; Minneapolis; and Billings, MT. Here’s a video of one of their best songs, “Big Blue Wave.”

Making the night even better, it included meeting a new member of the #R3NYNJ, the local music appreciation group (and Twitter hashtag) I recently started with Steve Conte–owner of Funnybooks, a comics store near Parsippany, NJ– to share information on shows by Canadian artists in the NY area. Our new pal is Kennedy Davey, a transplant to NYC from Vancouver by way of Los Angeles, newly working in advertising after some years in the film industry. She’s only ever lived on the West Coast of North America, so this is going to be a big change for her. Cold winters, late-arriving springs, living on the eastern edge of a time zone–instead of the blessed western edge–with nightfall coming earlier even in summer. She’s an avid show-goer like me and Steve, so it will be fun bumping into her at live shows of Canadian artists, and perhaps at other live musical shows, such as the Brooklyn Folk Festival, which is the next music event I am excited about, April 19-21. Below are my pictures from last night’s fun. Please click here to see all photos.

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So Sorry to Lose Jay Smith, Rock n’ Roll Musician

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I’m still shocked and saddened with Wednesday’s news that Jay Smith–guitarist in the great rock band led by Matt Mays–died suddenly, only hours after the group played a live show in Edmonton, Alberta. His death was disclosed in this Facebook message from Matt Mays:

Folks,

Our guitar player and dear friend Jay Smith passed away this morning in Edmonton. As you can all imagine, we are completely devastated. However, in our heart of hearts we know that we need to Play on. Jay’s family as well as the band know he would have wanted it that way. All the proceeds from the remaining shows will be put into a trust for his two beautiful children. Jay’s wit, charm, and unparalleled love of music will never be forgotten.

He was our brother and he will live in our hearts and song forever.

Matt, Serge, Damien, Adam and Matt

A cause of his death has not been announced. Exclaim magazine reports “no foul play is suspected.” Smith was 34 or 35 years old (b. 1978).

When I visited Toronto last June for the North by Northeast festival (NXNE) I heard Matt Mays and band play live at Lee’s Palace, a tremendous show. Jay Smith was a key part of the group that night, and I remember the steaming guitar solos he played. I’m sure the band will be a long time mourning his loss, personally, creatively, musically, and humanly. Photos from that show are published below. Smith had had a lengthy career as a rocker and presence on the music scene of Canada’s east coast, haling from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, with a band called Rock Ranger, that Mays featured in a song of his own, “Rock Ranger Record.” In fact, the group played it last June at Lee’s Palace, and Smith seemed to take special delight in playing on a song that was, after all, about an alter ego of his own. Mays is also from Canada’s east coast, a native of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, a locale he wrote about in a 2002 song, “City of Lakes.” Unaccountably, the song ends with these lines:

“I lost a friend here in this past year/I miss his guitar playing in my ear/Be a friend, take away all my fears/Nice and easy, nice and easy, nice and easy.”

Those lyrics, in turn, prompted me to reflect on the episode in 1972 when Danny Whitten, then the lead guitarist in Crazy Horse with Neil Young, died of a heroin overdose. I’m not presuming any similar reason for Jay Smith’s death–in fact have heard from someone close to the band since I posted this item that it definitely was not drug-related–only imagining what it’s like for a band to lose a brother in arms, as this extremely tight band now sadly has. To understand the dimensions of their loss, please see the photos below where in one the whole band literally took a bow with arms linked, and then waved goodnight to the jubilant crowd. These reflections prompted me to tweet the message shared above, as a prelude to this post.

Jay Smith album artSmith released a fine solo album in 2011 that I’ve been listening to often in the days since his death. You can listen to it at his bandcamp.com, where I bought a download of it for $7. It’s really a terrific recording, deserving of airplay for such standout songs as “My Luck,” “Partner in Crime,” and “Perfect View.” Please note also that at his website Matt Mays has set up a donation page for those who want to contribute to a trust for Jay Smith’s wife and two children, at this link. My sincerest condolences to his family, friends, and bandmates. RIP, Jay Smith. Please click on this link to see all photos.

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Joel Plaskett–A True Troubador–Unplugged & Loving It

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Plaskett 2On one of the snowiest nights of the winter, I took in one of the year’s best rock shows. It was a mostly acoustic set by Joel Plaskett, who began rocking out as a teenager twenty years ago in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Eight albums later, under such band names as Thrush Hermit and the Joel Plaskett Emergency, plus a near-score of notable albums he’s produced for other artists, Plaskett is a highly developed songwriter who flashes great rhyming instincts and an instantly likable and charismatic performing style. Following a great warm-up set by young band, The Great American Novel, a denim-clad, lanky Plasket stepped on stage in the Studio at Webster Hall by himself, playing a bright-sounding Gibson four-string tenor guitar. This weathered instrument, which to my ear shared tones and sonic qualities with  hammered dulcimer and autoharp, jibed beautifully with Plaskett’s bright pop melodies and voice, resting as it does somewhere in the upper register. After a bit, he was joined on stage by Peter Elkas, who played a Gibson acoustic fitted out with de luxe pickups patched in to a Fender amp with plenty of fuzz and reverb, providing a sonic counterweight to Plaskett’s treble tones. Peter is a hot lead guitar player, so though this performance had no full band, it had more than full enjoyment of chops, and a real rock feel. The duo worked comfortably through a full sampling of Plaskett material, “Through & Through & Through,” “Let Me Down Easy,” “North Star” (my personal fave of the whole evening), “Love this Town,” and “Deny, Deny, Deny.” At one point during these offerings Plaskett invited to the stage female artist Ana Egge, whom I had heard sing back-up with Rose Cousins last year. Now a trio, the harmonies became more enveloping and the tunes even sweeter.

Plaskett had an easy familiarity with the boisterous Monday night crowd, bantering back at folks after their many song requests. This was an audience that knew much of his repertoire. He was funny about it, and diplomatic, as he’d say something like, “Now that’s a very interesting request, and maybe I’ll play it later, but right now I had this one in mind.”  He explained how he comes to play a 4-string tenor guitar this way (lightly paraphrased): “One time in a store I saw this tenor guitar, first one I ever saw, but I didn’t have the money to buy it (150 bucks). So I said to my dad, ‘Hey, Dad, there’s this really nice guitar downtown.’ So he bought it and I got to play it.” After what by my count was the 16th song of this generous set, the musicians all left the stage, though a round of lusty clapping soon brought Joel back to the mic for what became a quite funny interlude before his encore. He took an IPhone out of his Cowichan vest and proceeded to sample some of his music library for us through the house sound system, with him miming the romantic vocal stylings of R&B artist Bobby Womack. Then, he played a version of his own “Fashionable People,” which has been widely seen because of a video he made of him dancing with leggy models, only in this new version the lyrics had been rewritten with goofy kids’ lyrics, making it into a suitable nursery school song. Joel acted out all the parts–funny, clever stuff. With that, his bandmates Peter and Ana returned to their places and he launched into the true encore, a love song to Canadian geography of the land and heart, “On the Rail,” with evocations of the scenic Cabot Trail, trans-continental train rides, sailing ships, and the stars in the sky.

As the musicians packed up, opportunities for conversation and mingling arose. Joel was just as personable off-stage as on, meeting and greeting many fans, including or two drunk ones. Earlier in the day the two of us had exchanged a tweet about set times, so he recognized me and we shook hands as I thanked him for the great show. I bought his CD, “Three,” and then wandered over to where Peter Elkas was winding up some cables. He’s a really nice-looking guy, and he was just as nice to meet. I told him how much I’d enjoyed his guitar tone and he explained how lucky he had been to find a scarce pick-up–mounted in the center hole of his instrument in the pics below–that allowed him to get those sounds from what is after all still just a Gibson acoustic.  It sounded more like Neil Young’s Old Black than a simple acoustic. I added that I enjoy the R&B sound he gets in his own recordings, and joked that I think of him as the “Boz Skaggs of Canadian R&B,” and we had a laugh about that. Seriously then, I recommended to Peter my favorite Boz Skaggs album, “Moments,” a classic record from 1971. Getting ready to go back into the sleeting night, I spotted the guys from opening act, Great American Novel, and introduced myself to them and handed out a few of my cards. They’re a fun bunch, and really replete with bookish associations, from their band name to their songs. I appreciated that and told them of my own book background. I learned that one of them, drummer Aidan, is the son of notable American fiction writer Jim Shephard, author of You Think That’s Bad. I’m going to keep an eye out for gigs of theirs and hope to hear them again. I said good night to friend Ontarian Nick Wynja, of Hack/Make whom I’d run in to here, a fellow member of the #R3NYNJ, a hashtag that signifies the CBC Radio 3 fan group of New York and New Jersey.

I had a great time at this show, a veritable “Joel Plaskett–Unplugged,” with him singing about 18 songs and playing almost 90 minutes. My first time seeing him–what a fun, passionate performer, full of banter and creative juice. He’s also a really great writer. Below are pictures I took last night.Please click here to see pictures I took last night.

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NY Times Buys Into the Harper Gov’t’s View of Keystone Pipeline

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Very odd that the team of three reporters who bylined the NY Times story I tweeted about so totally bought into the Harper government’s line about Keystone, with Harper’s spokespeople raising supposedly dire consequences to the US-Canadian relationship if the president decides to nix the pipeline here. The story is written as if Harper has a renewable lease on the office Prime Minister of Canada, when there will be a federal election up north no later than 2015. As critics in Canada have pointed out, increasingly Harper’s economic strategy has been shown to be that of “strip (resources) and ship them (to the highest bidder).” That the US could frustrate this design owing to what the Obama administration may ultimately rule are overwhelming environmental concerns is at least as big a problem for Harper as it ever wil be for the U.S.

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Second Lives for Good Canadian Publishing Names

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douglas-and-mcintyreMany in the book business were distressed last fall when it was abruptly announced that Douglas & McIntyre (D&M), one of the finest indie publishers in Canada, had announced it was seeking protection from creditors and filing for bankruptcy. Making matters worse, when the list of their creditors was published, the names of many authors and publishing partners were included, a sad sign that the pain and financial loss was going to run deep and wide in the Canadian book community, bleeding in to the U.S., too.

Nonetheless, people looking for a bright side were hoping that the assets of the Vancouver, British Columbia-based company would somehow find their way more or less intact in to the hands of another publisher, and that the books they’d published might somehow stay in print without interruption, giving the authors a shot at making up some of their loss. But there was no certainty of this. What’s more, there were three separate companies involved–New Society Publishers, Greystone Books, and D&M. It was possible that the assets of one or more of the imprints might be bought and carried on, while one or more of the others could fall by the wayside. Early on, it was revealed that New Society would be sold back to its founders. In the months that followed, while many stalwart employees of the full company lost their jobs, the assets went in to receivership under supervision by provincial courts, and it became very quiet, at least looking at it from the outside.

Last week, the dam began to break when it was announced that Greystone Books was being bought by Heritage House of Victoria, B.C. This pleased me because I’m friendly with Greystone’s publisher, Rob Sanders, who will continue with the company under the new Heritage House arrangement. That left only D&M still awaiting a new home. Today, that was resolved too, with the welcome news that B.C.’s Harbour Publishing is buying D&M. I assume this will include backlist and current books, as well as potentially books D&M had signed up but not yet published. The sale pleases me too, because I’m friendly with at least one author who had signed with D&M last year, and now has a chance to continue with the new entity.

Considering the bleak prospects, and not forgetting that much pain and loss has already been felt, this is about as good an outcome as could have been hoped for. I wish everyone involved only the very best going forward.

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Enjoying Whitehorse at Hill Country with Friends

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Amid an incredibly busy week–teaching a nonfiction book writing seminar on Tuesday at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, and attending Digital Book World (DBW) Wednesday and Thursday, it was fun to still get out and hear some live music, when Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland, aka Whitehorse, played at Hill Country, the fun BBQ restaurant and saloon in Manhattan on Thursday night. What made it even better was that I was able to bring some friends from DBW with me. Joining me were Peter Evans, CEO of Speakerfile, the Toronto company that connects conference organizers to author experts that do public speaking, whom I represent to the publishing industry; and Chris Howard and Jason Freeman of Libboo, an exciting new engine for book advocacy and discovery. We enjoyed an amazing dinner first and had a kinetic conversation that encompassed vintage guitars, music performance, emerging technologies, and whether Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) is the best beer to have with smoked wings. Before we knew it, Whitehorse was taking to the stage.

I had heard and met Luke and Melissa last year, so it was great to see them again, and this time turn some friends on to their music. Though they are ‘only’ a duo, they play like twinned one-person bands, supplying percussion, bass, keys, guitars, vocals, and foot-stomping to the sonic mix. Melissa’s voice is a powerful, arcing instrument, and Luke’s guitar work, mostly on a big, white Gretch Falcon, is consistently mind-blowing. Their ensemble work was especially powerful on such songs as “Wisconsin,” “Passenger 24,” “Devil’s Got a Gun,” and “I’m on Fire.”

I love it when spontaneous fun can be enjoyed amid a busy trade show. Thanks to Peter, Chris, and Jason for all the good company, and Luke and Melissa for the soundtrack to our evening!Luke & Melissa 2

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